Woman reports being car-jacked, assaulted, shot

Staff reports

Updated 10:02 pm, Wednesday, July 10, 2013

BRIDGEPORT -- Police are investigating an incident in which a Stratford woman was shot in the leg late Tuesday.

The 22-year-old woman told police she was car-jacked, forced to drive around and then brought into Beardsley Park, where she was assaulted by two males, according to police spokesman William Kaempffer.

The victim told police that she was at a gas station on Huntington Turnpike at about 10:45 p.m. when two black men approached her. One got into the back seat of her vehicle, put a gun to her head and ordered her to drive, she said. They ended up at Beverly Place near East Main Street.

The second assailant then appeared on Beverly Place. It remains unclear how the man got there because he wasn't in the victim's car and she didn't see a vehicle following them, she told police.

The two men forced her to walk from Beverly Place into Beardsley Park, where they attempted to sexually assault her, she said.

The victim reportedly was hit in the head with a blunt object, according to police radio dispatches. Although she tried to resist, she was assaulted and shot, she said.

A passerby saw the victim emerge from the park and contacted authorities. She was taken to St. Vincent's Medical Center, where her injuries were assessed as not life threatening.

An hourslong search for the pair was conducted in the park with the help of the Connecticut State Police and neighboring police departments.

Officers met the victim at East Main Street and Beverly Place at about 10:40 p.m. and learned that two men had fled the scene, according to dispatches.

An older man dressed in a yellow shirt reportedly fired the shot and then fled on East Main Street toward Trumbull. Officers searched Beardsley Park for a younger man dressed in a white shirt who was also involved. State and Trumbull police were notified of the incident as well.

Detectives continue to work to corroborate the woman's account and are checking video security systems at area businesses. The victim's vehicle was towed to the police garage.